'Muslim rage' turns against Libya's jihadist militia. So much for lazy stereotypes of fanatical Arabs

Last week’s protests and riots against the controversial Innocence of Muslims film provided the perfect fodder for every ill-informed analyst of Arab backwardness. The violence persuaded many – most of whom needed little persuasion – that these were just expressions of an inchoate and ineradicable Muslim rage, and that the West should abandon all efforts to engage in the region.

In that context, something pretty remarkable happened in the Libyan city of Benghazi yesterday:

Galvanised by anger over the killing of the popular American ambassador here last week, thousands of Libyans marched through this city on Friday, demanding the disarming of the militias that helped topple the dictatorship but have troubled the country with their refusal to disband.

In a show of mass frustration at the armed groups, protesters seized control of several militia headquarters on Friday night and handed them over to Libya’s national army in what appeared to be a coordinated sweep. They also stormed the headquarters of Ansar al-Sharia, a hard-line Islamist militia that has been linked to the attack on the United States Mission in Benghazi that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.

Ansar al-Sharia is a local militia, formed after the fall of Gaddafi. It cleans and builds roads, helps with security around the city – oh, and destroys Sufi shrines and graves, and agitates for strict sharia law. Now, implicated in the killing of the popular Ambassador Christopher Stevens, it’s beyond the pale.

It's not the only militia under attack. Two allies of the present government, Rafallah al Sahati and the 17 February Brigade, were also targeted by the pro-American crowds, fed up with the culture of impunity. Roughly 30,000 Libyans were involved, and they made their feelings clear: “You terrorists, you cowards. Go back to Afghanistan.” Extremists were around in Libya before the revolution, and they will be around after – but their role in politics and society should not be exaggerated.

Back in July, after Libya held free and fair elections, I warned that the nation faces serious problems, including out-of-control revolutionaries, but that it was taking major steps in the right direction. This latest round of protests is another rejoinder to those who have prematurely and glibly written off the country as a morass of jihadi-sympathisers.

What’s more, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. A Gallup poll this year showed that 54 per cent of Libyans approve of American leadership, near the highest approval ever seen in the region, and 95 per cent wanted local militias disarmed immediately. Libyans themselves are optimists. A huge majority, second only in the Arab world to Tunisia, think that security and safety will improve. By contrast, it is in countries untouched by the Arab Spring that people are most pessimistic – Jordan, Morocco, Palestine an Algeria.

Two weeks ago, Con Coughlin spoke of an “impending backlash against the West’s involvement in Libya”. Yet, if crowds are going to be our yardstick, this makes little sense. It would seem that what really angers Libyans is the extremists and spoilers in their midst. True, none of this changes the basic fact that the Libyan state is extremely weak and its successes reversible. But, if we’re going to talk about Muslim rage, let’s please cover a little more than just the hateful, flag burning malcontents.